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From SeeingBlack.com Theater/Dance
With music by Richard Danielpour and direction by Tazewell Thompson, Tracie Luck headlines as Margaret Garner and Gregg Baker plays her husband. A particularly moving performance features Baker and Lisa Daltrius, Garner’s mother, who achieve a fine melding of opera and traditional Black spirituals. Sung in English and aided by super-titles projected over the stage, “Margaret Garner” can be enjoyed by audiences who are not familiar with or appreciative of opera-as-usual. The New York City Opera also provides supplemental events to give a comprehensive history of slavery and its aftermath in this country. After any show, attendees can view silhouettes by the artist Karla Walker that depict angelic swans caring maimed body parts of Black shadowy figures. This exhibit, in the theater lobby, remains on view until Nov. 18. Another such supplementary event was a question-and-answer session with Toni Morrison on Sept. 16. When asked her opinion on elitism and exclusivity of opera venues, Morrison reminded the gathering about Italian-American history. She explained how when America began to establish a distinctive opera tradition, Americans of Italian descent were excluded or relegated to the balcony. These were the very people who were familiar with opera songs, which at that time were still sung in Italian. Morrison gave this history of how opera excluded people in some misguided attempt to elevate itself and, in the process, she dispelled the myth of what opera means and its appropriateness in telling a slave narrative. Like all of Morrison’s multi-layered narratives, “Margaret Garner” is an interpretation of not only the events surrounding a Black woman and her family but also the White plantation owner and his family—and all of American society just before the Civil War. Although some of the most horrific episodes of slavery are not theatrically replicated in drama or song, the show compensates with many provocative images and scenes. In one scene, the plantation owner’s wife, Maureen Mckay, defends Garner’s actions with her feminist perspective by considering Garner’s actions not in relation to Garner destroying the “property” of slave owner but in relation to Garner murdering her own children. McKay humanizes Margaret but falls short of understanding the depth of Margaret’s actions. This paradoxical scene directly addresses the intersectional issues of gender and race as they concern slavery. Many scenes, intentionally quick and inter-textual, attest to the care taken with this production. In another provocative and insightful moment, young child actors are lifted onto their parents’ shoulders to watch the lynching of Garner’s husband. This scene alludes to the drawing by turn-of-the-19th century artist Reginald Marsh titled “This is Her First Lynching,” which depicts a young girl raised above other spectators by her mother in order receive a better view of the hanging. Marsh’s focus on the crowd at such events distracts attention from the tortured victim in order to meditate on the aspects of society. Likewise, this opera could be seen as readjusting our perspective on Garner’s story. Having these scenes displayed on an opera stage and witnessing them among other opera-goers is an invaluable experience. The show, at the State Theater at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, is scheduled to continue until September 29. Tickets: $16 to $130. Information: 212-870-5630 or www.nycopera.com. Astride V. Charles lives in New York City © Copyright by SeeingBlack.com |
